Four out of five Student Government Association (SGA) executive board candidates listed departing from solely being a “student bank” on their goals for running. But with no one running for comptroller of SGA for the 2013-14 school year, SGA may lack the driving force behind its finances.
Current comptroller Taylor Snead, sophomore accounting major, said she doesn’t see how SGA can continue its financial work without a comptroller. Snead said the amount of work and organization required makes it unlikely her responsibilities could be done in conjunction with another position.
“If you were doing the bare minimum, it would probably be 10-15 hours (of work) a week,” Snead said. “I’m doing more than the bare minimum. I don’t have a life.”
The duties of the comptroller include:
—Chairing the SGA Budget Committee.
—Serving as a member of the executive board.
—Overseeing all the budgets of SGA-funded organizations.
—Performing the duties of the president in the absence of the president and vice president.
Current secretary and vice presidential nominee Katie Maxwell said due to the position’s high workload, it is a hard one to fill.
“Comptroller is really hard to fill because there is so much responsibility that goes with it,” Maxwell said. “It’s a really respected position. People think there is a lot of work. While it is (a lot of work), they have a lot of resources.”
Snead said she will not be running again for comptroller because of other commitments, and added there is no ill-will in the move. Snead was not the comptroller elected last year, but instead a replacement when the former comptroller had to leave the position shortly after election.
“We were really lucky to get Taylor,” SGA President Michael Grosch said. “She was really a wonderful surprise.”
Though Snead may not be running, that won’t stop her name from being mentioned for a write-in vote campaign.
“I’ve been told that there may or may not be a campaign going for me in which I am not involved,” Snead said.
Grosch said while Snead may not accept it, his first plan to fill the position is to write in her name.
Apart from the write-in vote, Grosch said if he is elected president again, he would like to raise awareness for the vacant position and hopes to have candidates run for the position in the fall election.
Current senator of Arts and Sciences and presidential candidate Javier Cardenas said if he is elected president, he has multiple candidates in mind he would appoint for the position.
Vacant and unopposed positions
Along with comptroller, the executive board positions of director of communications and director of public relations are currently without candidates. Eight senator positions also currently have no candidates.
Those positions can be filled by write-in votes. Grosch said SGA is attempting to raise awareness for the lack of candidates in hopes of getting people to run a write-in campaign.
“We are actually missing quite a few positions,” Grosch said. “We are really in a more of an awareness stage.”
Candidates running for all positions except president are running unopposed. Snead said with the other responsibilities students have, SGA just isn’t an option for many. But paid positions might entice more people to run.
“I think there is a solid chance that if SGA were paid it could take the place of another part-time job and then people would have more to put into it,” Snead said.
Snead said that while it might help get more candidates, she is wary of the idea of paying SGA positions. She said she worries people would be getting paid out of students’ tuitions when they might not be doing the work they were elected to do.
“I would love to see various SGA positions get paid, but that brings up the question of how do you keep people accountable,” Snead said. “I know I’m doing the work that I need to do and some other people are as well. Then what happens if next year it is people that aren’t doing what needs to get done? Do they get the same amount?”
Voting for SGA begins Monday, April 15 at 12 a.m. and closes Thursday, April 18 at 11:59 p.m.
The headline originally read “Vacancy: Comptroller 1 of 3 SGA executive board positions without nominee.”
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